Newport’s striker played 90 minutes against Manchester City as their giant-killing run came to an end.

Here, the 29-year-old tells us all about his memorable day.

Jamille Matt played 90 minutes against Manchester City as their FA Cup run came to an end

Pre-match 

There was no nervous tossing and turning. I surprisingly slept well — probably because of how much I’d been chasing my son, Luca, the night before. He’s only three so can be a handful! I got up at 9am, had a bowl of Crunchy Nut, chilled, went for a stretch and a walk then had some porridge with watermelon at 11.30am. I’m quite into my pre-match routine but a few family members from Manchester surprised me by turning up at my house at 2pm. I was delighted to see them, of course, but I told them they were disturbing my ritual! I still managed to have my go-to pre-match meal, though — scrambled eggs with beans on toast — then left for the stadium at 3pm.

A few family members from Manchester surprised me by turning up at my house at 2pm

Warm-up

R&B was my music of choice before the game. It gets me in the mood. When I went out to warm up and saw the supporters it didn’t make me nervous, it made me excited. We saw the City line-up and Pep Guardiola showed us a lot of respect with the strength of the team he selected. Even then I didn’t feel any nerves. Rodney Parade was bouncing. If you can’t play in front of that crowd, then you’re in the wrong sport. It’s what you dream about growing up. 

When I went out to warm up and saw the supporters it didn’t make me nervous, I was excited

First half

My son, Luca, walked out with me. That is a memory I will always cherish. To have him there alongside me for such a surreal moment in my career is something I will never forget. He did it before our win over Leicester in the third round, too, when I scored. Then the game started … and my word, those City players. One second they are behind you, the next they’ve vanished! They are the best at passing and moving. 

My word, those City players – one second they are behind you, the next they’ve vanished

Half-time team talk

Unbelievable. It was goalless. The best attacking team in the country had not scored against us. The gaffer told us to look at the scoreboard when we walk back out. Look at the score, 0-0 against one of the greatest sides in world football. ‘Be proud of that,’ the boss said, and he also told us to take heart in the fact we should have been 1-0 up. Only a super save by Ederson denied Tyreeq Bakinson’s header. ‘Go back out there and play with that same confidence.’ That was the message. 

The gaffer, Michael Flynn, told us to look at the scoreboard when we walk back out

Second half

We kept City out for one half, so why not another? That was the mindset. We wound up conceding four, but it was only 2-1 with 88 minutes on the clock. We pushed City all the way. I’ve got the full game recorded and I’ll rewatch it at some point. I’m a big fan of looking back at things in perspective. Out of 124 clubs at the start of the FA Cup, we got down to the last 16. We beat a Premier League team in Leicester on the way, and we beat a top Championship side in Middlesbrough. We can be proud of ourselves. 

We wound up conceding four in the second half, but it was only 2-1 with two minutes to go

Post-match 

We were invited into City’s dressing room and Pep was so accommodating. He was really respectful. Me and the lads mingled with the City players, I got hold of Raheem Sterling’s shirt. I wanted that before the game but I didn’t warn the other lads not to go for it. I just got lucky, I guess. Sterling is one of my favourite players and we both have a Jamaican connection. We had a chat. We congratulated the City players, they complimented us on how well we played and wished us the best for the future. Luca went to stay with his grandparents so me and the missus went for a TGI Fridays. Now it’s back to reality. 

Raheem Sterling is one of my favourite players and we both have a Jamaican connection

Last year’s Randox Health Grand National hero Tiger Roll warmed up for another ambitious spring campaign with a clear-cut victory in the Ladbrokes Ireland Boyne Hurdle at Navan.

The Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase – which he won at Cheltenham in 2018 – will be the next port of call for the Gigginstown House Stud-owned gelding, ahead of his attempt to become the first horse since Red Rum (in 1973-74) to land back-to-back victories in the Aintree spectacular.

Tiger Roll was sent off at 25-1 for the Grade Two hurdle over two miles and five furlongs – but the Gordon Elliott-trained nine-year-old did not travel like an outsider as he settled sweetly for Keith Donoghue.

Last year’s Randox Health Grand National hero Tiger Roll warmed up with a victory (old photos)

After Coquin Mans had led the field to the third-last flight, Tiger Roll loomed large to jump the penultimate hurdle in front.

Donoghue’s mount soon asserted and victory was never in doubt, as he crossed the line four lengths clear of Off You Go.

Elliott – whose charge is a three-time Cheltenham Festival winner – said: ‘That’s brilliant, I’m delighted with the way he ran. He’s a great horse and never lets us down.

‘The plan is the cross-country race at Cheltenham and obviously the English National, all being well.’

He went on: ‘It was a nice surprise. I thought the two horses, Bless The Wings and him, would finish second-last and last so it was a nice surprise. He’s paid for himself for the year again.

‘That’s arguably one of his best performances over hurdles.

The Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase will be the next port of call for the Gigginstown House

‘I thought he would need the run badly, and we knew there was plenty of improvement in him, but he was obviously a bit fitter than I thought. Keith said he would come on from the run.

‘He’s going to be some horse to go for the cross-country race now and he should taking a fair bit of beating with a clear round.’

Tiger Roll was cut to 11-10 favourite from 15-8 for the Glenfarclas Chase and is 12-1 favourite from 20-1 for the Grand National with Paddy Power.

Chris’s Dream confirmed Naas form with Champagne Classic to take Grade Two honours in the Ladbrokes Acca Boosty Ten Up Novice Chase.

The pair had finished second and third respectively behind Ballyward, and they were in the same order again with Chris’s Dream (5-2) landing the spoils in game fashion.

They fought out the closing stages, with Rachael Blackmore driving Henry de Bromhead’s charge to victory by half a length.

‘He really toughed it out there which was good to see,’ said De Bromhead.

‘Rachael got a great tune out of him and he jumped brilliant, bar maybe the last. I’m very happy.

‘We just said we wanted to try dropping him in again and see. It seemed to suit him well and he was able to jump his way into it no bother, so that was great.’

Tiger Roll was sent off at 25-1 for the Grade Two hurdle over two miles and five furlongs

He added: ‘I’d say you’d have to look at the RSA now. I think he’s entitled, I have to speak to the owners and see what they’d like to do. I wouldn’t see why not.

‘The ground might be the only reason why not. It’s as good as he’d want it there today, but he was good.’

Ucello Conti (4-7 favourite) made it a treble on the card for the Elliott stable when smoothly landing the odds in the Boardsmill Stud Hunters Chase.

The 11-year-old was trimmed to 4-1 from 5-1 for the Foxhunter Chase at Cheltenham after he disposed of Coastal Tiep with the minimum of fuss, by three and a half lengths in the hands of Barry O’Neill.

The evergreen Salsify, winner of the Foxhunters in 2012 and 2013 and now a 14-year-old, was third.

Elliott said: ‘Barry was very happy. He said it might have been better if he had let him stride on a little bit as he said he was kind of breaking his stride and he wasn’t jumping as well as he can.

‘We’ve done what we had to do and the plan now is to go straight for the Foxhunters.

‘He’s a good horse and has good, solid form.’

Roy Hodgson believes Crystal Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey will be found ‘totally innocent’ over allegations he made a Nazi salute.

Hennessey played in the FA Cup at Doncaster after confirming last week that he will contest an FA charge over the alleged gesture in a photograph with teammates.

It was the Wales international’s first start since playing in the third round-win over Grimsby at the start of last month, but Hodgson insisted he had no worries about playing him.

Roy Hodgson believes Crystal Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey will be found innocent

‘We are both hoping and confident that charge won’t lead to any particular sanctions,’ said Hodgson.

‘We believe he is totally innocent of any charge being made, although we do understand in this current climate that the FA are duty bound to research anything.’ 

Roy Hodgson was pleased with the professionalism of his Crystal Palace side. ‘It was a very tough game,’ Hodgson said.

‘We had prepared for a tough game. We knew Doncaster Rovers were a good football team and we had seen enough from our research to know that.

Wayne Hennessey played in the FA Cup after confirming he will contest an FA charge

‘Luckily I was able to really imprint that in the minds of our players and there was never going to be any complacency on our part.

‘In fact, Doncaster were every bit as good as I thought they might be, perhaps even slightly better.

‘The pitch was a bit of a factor which evened things out and Doncaster probably dealt with how firm and bumpy it was better than we did.

‘I thought both teams tried to play good football.

‘In the end we are delighted to come through on the right side and go into the quarter-finals.

British Athletics has defended its selection policy following the farce of only one sprinter making the team for the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

They face the enormously embarrassing situation of taking only Ojie Edoburun to contest the 60m next month and leaving two spaces in the team unfilled.

But performance director Neil Black indicated there would be no changes to the selection method, which set the qualifying mark at an excessively quick 6.60sec and mandated that athletes attended the British Indoor Championships. 

British Athletics face situation of taking only Ojie Edoburun (right) to contest 60m next month

While that latter requirement is sensible, the qualifying time has been questioned within the sport, considering European Athletics impose a far lesser standard at 6.78sec and only seven Europeans have run 6.60sec or better this season.

It has meant no place for a proven championship performer in Richard Kilty, who has won the past two European 60m gold medals but could only manage 6.63sec on Saturday in his final meet before the selection cut-off. 

The situation is mildly humiliating for Britain going into a home championships and the frustration is exacerbated by Britain having its finest ever generation of sprinters, led by Reece Prescod, who is the fastest man in Europe this year but has swerved Glasgow.

After announcing the team on Sunday, Black said: ‘That has been the qualification mark since 2013 in the European indoors. I don’t (think the qualifying standard is too high). If you look back through history that is a standard that historically many people have achieved. No one have ever questioned it in the past.

‘This year for a combination of reasons the athletes haven’t met that standard. It doesn’t mean it is wrong.’ 

Black, who named a wider squad of 48 led by Laura Muir, added: ‘It’s certainly not an embarrassment. It is a large team, a competitive team, it includes five gold medallists and multiple medallists. You are concentrating on the one unusual thing.’ 

Performance director Neil Black indicated there would be no changes to the selection method

Pressed on the decisions of Prescod, Zharnel Hughes, CJ Ujah and Adam Gemili to overlook the European Indoors, Black said: ‘It is not frustrating for me. I support those decisions because they are made for their personal performance reasons. I 100 per cent support the European Indoors in Glasgow and want as many people to be there but the athletes you have mentioned have all made decisions for good reasons and we are on the journey to Doha (for the World Championships in September).’ 

Muir will be the leading name in the team as she attempts to defend her double gold from 2017 in the 1500 metres and 3000m.

Black said: ‘We have all seen Laura evolve as an athlete, as a performer and a person. And I am incredibly impressed. She has a brilliant team around her and works well with her coach Andy Young so I am very confident that Laura knows exactly what she is doing and to seriously attempt the double-double.

‘I think she has a very good chance of doing it and I actually think she thrives on the pressure (in front of a home Scottish crowd) and I think we are going to see something special. I think the whole country will stand still when she hopefully completes the double-double on that Sunday evening.’ 

Laura Muir will be the leading name in team for European Indoor Championships in Glasgow

Middlesbrough tightened their grip on the play-offs without turning the screw enough to completely satisfy their manager.

And although Tony Pulis rightly pinpointed what he called Boro’s ‘Achilles heel’ in their promotion quest, Tony Mowbray put a proverbial boot into Blackburn.

Again, it was warranted as the Rovers boss bemoaned ‘a lack of fight, desire, energy and quality’ in a match-defining first half. 

Britt Assombalonga headed in from very close range after Ashley Fletcher’s cross-shot

Assombalonga celebrates with Fletcher after giving Middlesbrough the lead on 19 minutes

Boro celebrate going in front at Ewood Park as they look to stay in the promotion race

Boro reached the break with Britt Assombalonga’s winning goal and Blackburn further depleted by the sending-off of Derrick Williams.

The fact that the 10 men offered much more threat than the 11 fuelled rather than tempered Mowbray’s criticism after a fourth straight defeat.

Pulis was not entirely happy either, despite seeing his side over-ride the loss of key defenders Daniel Ayala and Aden Flint to climb above Bristol City into fifth place.

‘After 27 shots and only one goal we’ve got to be more ruthless,’ said Pulis, who went with an attacking looking line-up. ‘We wanted to be positive and played really well in the circumstances.’

Mowbray’s mood suggested he felt Blackburn effectively beat themselves. ‘I couldn’t recognise my team in the first half,’ he said. 

Derrick Williams leaves the pitch after he was sent off just before half time for a clumsy tackle

Williams was caught out by a ball over the top and tackled Fletcher just outside the area

Fletcher fell to the floor, and Williams was judged to have denied a goal scoring opportunity

Williams pleaded his innocence, but was sent off to leave Blackburn in deep trouble

Boro should certainly have won more comfortably. They could have been punished for failing to add to Assombalonga’s 12th goal of the season.

Danny Graham fired wide after bustling clear and Bradley Dack drew a great save from Darren Randolph.

That said, David Raya made an equally brilliant stop to deny Assombalonga a second.

It was fitting that the most dangerous attacker on the field, Ashley Fletcher, finished on the winning side. Fletcher made the most of a rare chance to impress, instrumental in what proved to be the winner — with all Boro’s league victories of 2019 coming on the road.

Fletcher and Assombalonga, both recalled among Pulis’s changes, saw them take the early initiative. 

Lewis Wing came close to making it 2-0 early in the second half but hit the bar from long range

Darren Randolph pulled off a superb late save to deny Bradley Dack and secure Boro the win

On only his second league start of the season, Fletcher immediately pepped up an attack lacking thrust lately.

Although he failed with a close-range header, his pace and trickery left Blackburn exposed from Dael Fry’s long ball.

Fletcher’s angled shot deflected off Charlie Mulgrew and was going just wide of the far post. Assombalonga anticipated superbly to head home just in front of the line in the 19th minute.

Fletcher was again the thorn in Rovers’ side when the home team were reduced to 10 men just before the break. The forward burst clear and was tripped by Williams on the edge of the area. It must have been one of the easiest red cards of referee Darren Bond’s career.

Blackburn were roundly booed off at half-time. And it was not only to reorganise in the face of the loss of Williams that Mowbray made a triple substitution.

Lewis Wing’s swerving 20-yard shot crashed off the Blackburn bar on the restart.

But Rovers offered a big improvement in a more even and exciting second period, with substitute Amari’i Bell a real threat on the left. 

Blackburn defender Jack Rodwell slides in on George Saville in the opening stages

Boro midfielder Mo Besic tackles Elliott Bennett who jumps out of the way of the challenge

Current Boro boss Tony Pulis greets ex-Teesside player and manager Tony Mowbray pre-match

Chris Gayle has announced his retirement from 50-over international cricket after the World Cup this summer but provided a boost to the ECB by declaring an interest in their beleaguered Hundred competition.

Gayle, 39, is back in West Indies colours for Wednesday’s first one-day international here at the Kensington Oval after missing the tours of Bangladesh and India before Christmas.

And, in his own inimitable style, the self-styled ‘Universe Boss’ looked forward to the series while telling England they will not have a new tournament unless they recruited him to sprinkle stardust on it.

Chris Gayle will retire from one-day international cricket after this summer’s World Cup

‘I’m definitely looking to draw the line under 50-over cricket after the World Cup,’ said the biggest superstar of the modern franchise game. ‘I want to sit in the party stand and let the youngsters have some fun.’

Before that comes England’s attempt to start World Cup year with victory in the five-match series over a strong looking West Indies 50-over side with Gayle, closing in on 10,000 one-day international runs, at the top of the order.

‘I’m definitely looking to put on a show against England,’ said Gayle. ‘England fans love to see the Universe Boss exploding and entertaining you guys as much as possible. I don’t know who is opening the bowling for England but anyone should beware Chris Gayle.

The 39-year-old batsman has scored 9,727 ODI runs in 284 matches since his debut in 1999

‘That doesn’t change because he is 39. They are saying ‘he’s got a few grey hairs in his beard, let’s get him.’ But my body feels good. I’ve lost a bit of weight but I’m still working on my six pack. I’m hoping to enjoy the next couple of months with the West Indies team.’

ECB need the biggest world names to play in the Hundred, which will feature eight new teams, next year to make it credible. Gayle wants to be among them.

‘If I don’t play it won’t be a tournament,’ smiled Gayle. ‘I guess England should invite me over. Then I’ll explode the tournament and say ‘thank you guys.’ I will set the trend for you like I have all the tournaments around the world.’

However long he has left, a batsman good enough to score two triple centuries in Test cricket and 9,727 one-day international runs is content with his career. ‘Yes, I’m the greatest player in the world,’ he said. ‘Of course I can’t complain. You’re looking at a great man.’ 

Inter Milan ended a turbulent week by beating Sampdoria 2-1 in Serie A on Sunday under the gaze of injured top scorer Mauro Icardi.

The Argentine striker was stripped of the captaincy on Wednesday amid protracted negotiations over a new contract and he refused to travel for their Europa League fixture against Rapid Vienna the following day.

The club subsequently announced Icardi would miss the visit of Sampdoria through injury and the 25-year-old watched from the stands at San Siro as new captain Samir Handanovic led out the team.

Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi and his wife Wanda in the stands at the San Siro on Sunday

Reports in Italy suggest unsettled Icardi and Inter Milan set for ‘divorce in the summer’

Danilo D’Ambrosio and Radja Nainggolan struck for the Nerazzurri either side of Samp substitute Manolo Gabbiadini’s goal in the space of five second-half minutes.

The victory relieved the pressure on coach Luciano Spalletti as Inter restored a four-point cushion over rivals AC Milan in third place with their second consecutive league win.

Spalletti had a message for his star striker after the game.

‘I very much appreciated that he was in the stadium and I would’ve appreciated it even more if he had come into the dressing room afterwards to celebrate with us as it was a very important victory for the team and he is part of this group,’ he told Italian broadcasters.

The Argentine was stripped of the captaincy this week and Samir Handanovic led out the team

‘There are more steps to be made, which are for him to come to the dressing room, to enjoy being a part of this very good group, to relish wearing the glorious jersey of a club like Inter, that sort of thing.’

It took 73 minutes for the first goal to be scored and it came from an unlikely source as fullback D’Ambrosio poked in Ivan Perisic’s low cross to score his first goal of the season.

The lead lasted three minutes before substitute Gabbiadini scored with his first touch, the striker profiting from some hesitant defending to finish into the corner.

Danilo D’Ambrosio poked in Ivan Perisic’s low cross to score his first goal of the season

Nainggolan restored Inter’s lead two minutes later with a well-taken finish from the edge of the area.

Inter remain in third place on 46 points, while Sampdoria are 10th on 33 points having won just one of their last six Serie A matches.  

Radja Nainggolan scored second goal with a well-taken finish from the edge of the area